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Israel Killed Gaza Aid Worker Who Participated in Oct. 7 Massacre; Media Framed It as Cruel Murder
Aerial view shows a World Central Kitchen (WCK) barge loaded with food arriving off Gaza, in this handout image released March 15, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
The IDF announced on Saturday that it had conducted a targeted strike on a vehicle inside Gaza, eliminating Hazmi Kadih (also known as Ahed Azmi Qudeih), a Palestinian who infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz and took part in the October 7 terror attacks last year.
Kadih also happens to have been an employee of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid agency.
True to form, WCK joined the bloated, overfunded ecosystem of Palestinian-focused aid organizations professing ignorance about their staff’s double lives, instead issuing a statement expressing that it was “heartbroken” over the incident and claiming to have “no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7th Hamas attack.”
This response is particularly rich coming from an organization that, earlier this year, demanded an “independent inquiry” into the IDF’s actions after several WCK workers were killed in an Israeli strike in April.
Back then, WCK declared that the IDF could not “credibly” investigate itself and insisted that “systemic change” was necessary to prevent “more military failures, more apologies, and more grieving families.”
Perhaps WCK will now call for an independent inquiry into how someone who took part in the mass murder of innocent civilians –and made his support for it crystal clear on social media — managed to infiltrate its ranks.
Or will this damning revelation be quietly brushed aside, as accountability rarely seems to flow in the other direction?
I found the Facebook account of Ahed Azmi Qadi, the @WCKitchen employee who was also a terrorist who participated in the October 7th massacre.
Let’s see what he’s posted
https://t.co/yuMVW8auLB pic.twitter.com/32XDgGIT5y
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) November 30, 2024
We somehow suspect it will be the latter, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising, given that the media are already laying the groundwork to help WCK weather this scandal unscathed.
Let’s examine the headlines reporting the IDF’s strike on the terrorist-linked vehicle.
Nearly every mainstream news outlet — including BBC, NPR, AFP, Reuters, and Sky News — framed the incident as Israel simply “killing aid workers,” while emphasizing that WCK has now suspended its Gaza operations as a result of the strike.
This narrative seems carefully constructed to villainize Israel, and deflect scrutiny from WCK’s hiring practices — or the uncomfortable evidence that one of its employees was involved in a massacre of innocent civilians.
To its credit, Sky News at least acknowledged the Hamas connection to the October 7 attacks in its subheading — a minimal nod to the context that others failed to provide.
Below are the headlines from Reuters, the BBC, NPR, and AFP — all of which hid the truth:
Reuters
BBC
NPR
AFP
In contrast, a handful of outlets, including The New York Times, ABC News, POLITICO, The Los Angeles Times, and, surprisingly, The Guardian, deserve commendation for including the IDF’s statement that Hazmi Kadih was a terrorist.
Their reporting proves that it is possible to fit critical facts into a headline, but that in some cases the media chooses not to.
The Guardian
POLITICO
New York Times
Los Angeles Times
As we’ve seen time and again, there’s a troubling “dualism” within these organizations operating in Gaza. Publicly, they speak in the language of compassion and neutrality. Behind the scenes, however, they are too often staffed with antisemites, terror sympathizers, or the dangerously naive.
This latest revelation about WCK employing a terrorist isn’t an outlier — it’s yet another glaring example of the systemic issues plaguing the overfunded and under-scrutinized aid sector in Gaza.
Back in April, when Israel swiftly acknowledged, apologized for, investigated, and even dismissed senior officers involved in a tragic drone strike that killed WCK aid workers, the media wasted no time branding Israel as guilty of everything from “trigger-happy behavior” to “going rogue.”
The incident wasn’t treated as an isolated, tragic mistake — the kind that happens in warfare, as we’ve seen countless times with many of Israel’s closest allies fighting in the Middle East, including the United States.
And yet, whenever an aid worker in Gaza is unmasked as a Hamas terrorist, the media fall conspicuously silent. If the connection to terrorism is acknowledged at all, it’s presented as a one-off anomaly rather than evidence of a systemic “terror problem” within these organizations. The same scrutiny and outrage never seem to apply.
It’s the double standard we’ve come to expect but must not accept. How many more so-called “humanitarian workers” must be exposed as murderous terrorists before the media acknowledge that not every aid group is beyond reproach? This pattern of silence and selective outrage cannot continue. It’s time for the media to hold these organizations accountable — or at least admit they have no interest in doing so.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Israel Killed Gaza Aid Worker Who Participated in Oct. 7 Massacre; Media Framed It as Cruel Murder first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War
The S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army’s deputy for operations.
During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.
“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi said.
Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press did not mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.
Following limited Israeli strikes against Iranian missile factories last October, Iran later displayed Russian-made air defenses in a military exercise to show it recovered from the attack.
The post Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding
Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Residents reported calm in Syria’s Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signaled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.
With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said on Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, “paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate.”
Reuters images showed interior ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The Interior Ministry said late on Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.
US envoy Tom Barrack said the sides had “navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities”. “The next foundation stone on a path to inclusion, and lasting de-escalation, is a complete exchange of hostages and detainees, the logistics of which are in process,” he wrote on X.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city’s residents were struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.
Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed. “Houses are destroyed … The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital,” he said in a voice message to Reuters from Sweida.
The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organized by the Syrian Red Crescent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Israel sent urgent medical aid to the Druze in Sweida and the step was coordinated with Washington and Syria. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi’ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.
Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbours were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.
Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against “our Druze people.”
He has blamed the violence on “outlaw groups.”
While Sharaa has won US backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups.
COASTAL VIOLENCE
After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He also said Israel would protect the Druze.
The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.
A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.
On Sunday, Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria’s coastal region in March, where Reuters reported in June that Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority following attacks on security forces.
The presidency said it would review the inquiry’s conclusions and ensure steps to “bring about justice” and prevent the recurrence of “such violations.” It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings – if appropriate – as soon as possible.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on July 18 it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians, women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
The post Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Pope Leo called for an end to the “barbarity of war” on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.
Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.
Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said.
The post Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church first appeared on Algemeiner.com.